


Spice Festival

by blackberrychai



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Felileth Week (Fire Emblem), Post-Time Skip, Wartime, before gronder, no beta we die like Glenn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:27:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25281616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackberrychai/pseuds/blackberrychai
Summary: War is hell, frankly. But if you look hard enough, sometimes you can distract yourself for a while.Felileth Week Day Four: Spicy
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 7
Kudos: 34





	Spice Festival

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic I've written in about five years, and my first entry into this fandom! I've been playing way too much Fire Emblem lately, and then Felileth week gave me brain worms. I love this ship a lot, so I hope this satisfies.

In the days before they left for Gronder, everyone walked around in a grim haze. The tension had been ratcheting up for months now, and the initial euphoria everyone had seemed to feel at the reunion, at being back in Garreg Mach, at having comrades again, and most of all at having _hope_ – it had been seeping away, slowly but surely. Byleth had been doing what she could, but this kind of thing had never been her forte. She’d always been better with a blade than with words, and no matter how many cups of tea she’d offered, there hasn’t really been much she could do for everyone. It seemed ironic, in many ways, that just as she began to shake off the strangeness of this world she’d returned to, it should sink endlessly into this dreary foreboding.

The one thing she still wasn’t used to, and never wanted to be used to, was this new Dimitri, with all the rough edges that he’d hidden so carefully when he was a student on full display now. It would have been wonderful to see all her former proteges so well-matured, all of them so capable and powerful, were it not for this. Her unbeating heart still ached in her chest every time she saw his fingers curl around Areadhbar despite there being no threat in sight, and every time he growled, deep in his throat, when someone tried to tear him away from the cathedral. And so Byleth avoided him, and tried to forget that soon she would be facing people who had been just students last time she had seen them. Everyone seemed to be doing that, now. Annette spent hours hunched over books in the library, Sylvain flirted more desperately than ever, and Felix joined her in the training grounds for hour after hour of slashing at the dummies or at each other.

They fell quickly into a routine, the two of them, meeting there at dawn in silence and occupying themselves with their own sets of drills to warm their muscles, and rushing through quiet breakfasts before Byleth has to run off to another endless meeting, going over their troops and supplies and every exhausting report brought back by their scouts and messengers. As soon as these are over, she has fled back to the training grounds every day, to shake off her hopelessness in the clash of her weapon against Felix’s as they spar. And every day, she has found herself wishing she could spend all her time like this, lost in the pull of her muscles and the sound of steel. But after lunch they were each forced to attend to the endless little matters of the war – tending to the greenhouse or the horses, working on the slow rebuilding of the monastery, making plans to kill people who had once been here with them.

Byleth hoped that Felix spent the afternoons missing the quiet hours they spend with each other as much as she did, but it was impossible for her to tell what was behind his impassive scowl most of the time. More often than not, though, on the evenings when she was still too restless to sleep when night fell, he followed her back there, and would goad her into another spar with a few mocking words. She always slept better on those nights than on the ones where she hacked aimlessly at nothing, alone, until the whole monastery was silent except for her.

They were due to begin the march to Gronder on the last Monday of the month, and Byleth had spent the whole of Sunday morning rushing around on tiny errands to prepare everything. The solemnity had sunk deep under everyone’s skin, and everyone moved with a weary reluctance as they prepared weapons and provisions.

When Byleth finally made it to the training grounds, she found Felix uncharacteristically slumped down against the wall near the door. She paused awkwardly on the threshold as he scrambled to his feet and folded his arms. “You’re late,” he said.

She looked down at where he’d just been sitting. “I’m sorry. There’s… there’s a lot to do today.”

He only grunted in response, and they stood there silently for a moment.

“I’ve been training all morning and I’m too hungry to spar now,” he said finally.

Byleth sighed. “I really am sorry. If we eat fast, we could spar afterwards?” she asked.

“Fine,” Felix said shortly, and marched determinedly off towards the dining hall.

When they reached it, it was oddly silent, despite being filled with people. Byleth shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other as they stood in the queue to be served.

“I hate this,” she said quietly, so only Felix could hear.

He looked at her questioningly. “All this,” she waved her hand, “this gloominess. Everyone’s so tense.”

He snorted in agreement. “Well, what do you expect. We’re being sent off to kill our old classmates tomorrow.”

The look on Byleth’s face became strained. “I’m so sorry. I hate it, but I don’t know how we could avoid it.”

“Don’t apologise.” Felix’s eyes burned with sudden vehemence. “None of this is your fault.”

Byleth couldn’t shake the feeling that somehow, _somehow_ , she could have prevented all this, but before she could say as much the last person in front of them walked off with their food.

“Hello!” said the girl on kitchen duty with unexpected cheeriness. “We’re holding the spice festival today, so I hope your taste buds are ready!”

When they both sat down with their plates of super-spicy fish dango, Felix still hadn’t stopped looking uncomfortable. “It feels so strange to be having a damned spice festival now of all times,” he said.

“I suppose we need something to cheer us up. Though maybe that girl is taking it a little far,” Byleth replied.

The curl of Felix’s mouth was reluctant, but his shoulders dropped a little of their tension. “At least we get decent food out of it.”

“Just because it’s your favourite,” Byleth teased, and Felix’s shoulders finally dropped fully, and his smile was as full as he ever really let it be.

“Not my fault if other people don’t have quite as good taste,” he said with a smirk, and all she could manage to do was smile back at the way his eyes danced.

He wasn’t entirely wrong, though – it was good, and whoever was making it had excelled themselves today. She sighed a little as she began to eat, and let herself smile contentedly down at her food. When she looked back up at Felix after a minute, she was surprised at how unguarded his face was. His eyes were half-shut as he chewed with a soft smile, and Byleth let herself enjoy the expression for a moment. The hard lines of his usually set expression had almost disappeared, and he looked startlingly tender, enjoying such a simple pleasure.

She’d almost forgotten she was staring until Felix glanced up at her, eyes still soft as they met hers, and _something_ swelled in her chest and – oh. _Oh_. Felix had blushed a bright pink, but he hadn’t looked away from her at all. She managed to take in from her peripheral vision that he was swallowing heavily, and his lips started to part to say something. She tore her eyes away from his face before he could, and struggled against the urge to take a deep shuddering breath. Burying her attention in the food again, she felt her cheeks heat and fought the urge to look back up at him. Who knew what she’d manage to do to embarrass herself if she did.

She ate quickly, and by the time she finished she had calmed her breathing enough to feel confident in looking up at Felix again. He had already finished his bowl, and was sat staring down at it with a blank face.

Byleth coughed softly. “Ready to spar?” she asked tentatively.

He nodded sharply in response, and was silent as they returned their utensils and walked briskly back to the training grounds. When he turned away from her to pick a sword from the rack against the wall, she found herself admiring the elegant lines of compact muscle in his form, and the gracefulness with which he moved. Shaking her mind back to the task at hand, she joined him and selected a sword. They fought with live steel all the time now – had done for months – since neither of them wanted to waste time training with unbalanced wooden weapons.

When she walked out in the middle of the empty courtyard to stand facing Felix, she shook her muscles out and raised her blade in an opening stance. “Ready?”

He nodded again. “It’s nice to have the whole space. We should fight when everyone’s eating more often,” he remarked, and then launched into an attack without any more warning.

Byleth felt her limbs loosening as she threw herself into the dance of swordplay, and felt her breath start to come more easily. _This_ was what she knew how to do, and there was such fierce delight in fighting like this with someone just as skilled as she was. Felix didn’t beat her often, but he’d improved enough that he was more or less her equal now. It was an exhilarating feeling. She loved the sensation of dancing around an opponent’s blade, and the way the world narrowed to just the two of them, and their swords. And Felix was a joy to spar with, beyond his competence. Watching how he moved, how he focused his attention so absolutely on her, brought that feeling rising back up in her chest again.

“You’re distracted,” he bit out with a scowl, as he avoided her attack.

“What?” Byleth said, baffled.

He spun into a flurry of blows, and the way his hair began to work itself loose from its tail with the motion was so lovely to watch. His eyes were so intent they almost seemed to glow – and then his sword was somehow against her throat, and her back was to a pillar.

“I _said_ ,” Felix growled, “You’re distracted.”

Byleth looked down at the sword as she panted slightly. “Oh,” she managed to say.

“What is it?” Felix bit out. “You’d better not be distracted when we get to Gronder, you hear me?”

Her gaze flew up to meet his. “I won’t be.”

He scowled. “I’m serious. I can’t – we can’t lose you again.”

His eyes were wide, almost pleading, though the way his mouth was set told her he was aiming more for harsh. “I’ll be fine,” Byleth said. “And you’d all be fine without me.”

“ _No_ ,” he said, and looked shocked by his own vehemence. “I mean… We can’t do this without you. The boar’s no use to a war like this, and we can’t manage without you.”

“Felix,” Byleth choked out.

“I’m serious,” he said, and took a deep breath. “Byleth. Please. I can’t do this without you.”

There was something desperate lurking in his eyes, and she could feel his hand shaking slightly as it held his sword. The metal was harsh against her skin, despite its blunted edge, and she reached up to push it away. Felix dropped it to his side, his eyes still fixed on her, but he didn’t step away.

“Felix,” Byleth said again, and he must have seen something in her face as well, because she heard the sword drop to the ground, and his mouth was on hers. He was warm and solid as he stepped into her, and she dropped her sword as well to tangle her hands in his hair.

He kissed just like he fought, intense and single-minded, one hand bracing against the pillar as he worked the other behind her back to pull her against him. Byleth lost herself in the sensation of his lips against hers, almost bruising in his desperation, and let the movement carry her mind away in the same way that fighting did.

When he broke away from her, he rested his forehead against hers as they both panted. “Byleth,” he muttered, his lips still barely an inch away from hers. She captured them again, this time shoving herself away from the pillar to push back against him. Gripping at his loose shirt, she let a hand tease at the skin of his hipbone where it had come untucked from his trousers. He made a noise in the back of his throat when she pulled away again, his hands tightening around her back.

Byleth smirked up at him. “That’s what was distracting me.”

He made a garbled noise, breathless for a moment, and then started laughing. “Goddess,” he gasped, “I suppose if that’s the result of you getting distracted, it might not be all bad.”

She stepped away from him with a soft smile, but took one of his hands in hers. “I won’t get distracted out there. I promise.”

Felix searched her eyes for a moment, then nodded, and pulled her back towards him to kiss her briefly. “All right, then.”

Byleth sighed. “I have to go now, though. Maybe… come to my quarters later?” she asked. She could feel herself blushing again.

Luckily, Felix seemed to be just as red. “Yes. But before you go –” he kissed her once more, before letting her go with a smile. “You taste like the spicy fish dango.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on twitter! https://twitter.com/blackberrychai


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